East Is East
First screened in May 2020
Director: Damien O'Donnell. Cast: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge, Jimi Mistry, Raji James, Emil Marwa, Archie Panjabi, Chris Bisson, Ian Aspinall, Emma Rydal, Ruth Jones, Lesley Nicol, Gary Damer, John Bardon, Kaleem Janjua, Albert Moses, Madhav Sharma, Leena Dhingra, Tallat Nawaz, Sharmeen Rafi, Jimmi Harkishin, Saikat Ahamed, Thierry Harcourt. Screenplay: Ayub Khan-Din (based on his play). Twitter Capsule:
Direction never adequate to conflicts and characters. Story AND racial/gender politics grow ever worse. End is horror.
Second Capsule:
Slowly, elaborately affirms white woman's right to castigate brown people everywhere, including her kids, then restores her to subservience!
VOR:②
Unusual cultural-temporal milieu, which holds some promise in early going, but style and story tilt toward surface and stereotype even before they nosedive.
